LOS ANGELES -- After Los Angeles County's public defender expressed concerns about possibly illegal recordings of privileged attorney-client meetings at a downtown courthouse, a spokeswoman for the district attorney has acknowledged that such recordings had "inadvertently" occurred in one case.
The spokeswoman, Shiara Davila-Morales, said Friday that recordings had been made of conversations between a defense attorney and a client in a case involving three individuals accused of kidnapping and extortion.
Davila-Morales said the district attorney's office has not listened to the recordings and has no intention of using them in the prosecution of the case.
The statement from the district attorney's office in response to inquiries from The Los Angeles Times came after Interim Public Defender Nicole Davis Tinkham sent a confidential memo to the county Board of Supervisors Wednesday.
The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, said the public defender's office had begun an investigation into a recording operation by sheriff's and police officials of attorney-client conversations at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
LOS ANGELES -- After Los Angeles County's public defender expressed concerns about possibly illegal recordings of privileged attorney-client meetings at a downtown courthouse, a spokeswoman for the district attorney has acknowledged that such recordings had "inadvertently" occurred in one case.
The spokeswoman, Shiara Davila-Morales, said Friday that recordings had been made of conversations between a defense attorney and a client in a case involving three individuals accused of kidnapping and extortion.
Davila-Morales said the district attorney's office has not listened to the recordings and has no intention of using them in the prosecution of the case.
The statement from the district attorney's office in response to inquiries from The Los Angeles Times came after Interim Public Defender Nicole Davis Tinkham sent a confidential memo to the county Board of Supervisors Wednesday.
The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, said the public defender's office had begun an investigation into a recording operation by sheriff's and police officials of attorney-client conversations at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.